A normal week?

For the first time in what feels like forever, this week may be the first “normal” week in a long while – although I still use the term loosely.

The weekend was good. We managed a whole day off.

Friday I was collecting the poet from the station. His train was about 10 minutes late, so that wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately the last leg of his trip had been a bit … uncomfortable, as there was a big concert in Sheffield (Slipknot) and there were a lot of people travelling from Leeds. He’d only caught the first train in Kirkcaldy by the skin of his teeth, but the rest of the journey was, apparently, quite smooth going. He needed some chill time after the Leeds – Barnsley leg though.

So Friday evening we did nothing.

Saturday was busy. We had to go to Chavsville to collect his routine prescriptions, then we went to a lovely little farm shop we know to buy a picnic and gifts. We had to put petrol in before dropping in on his mother to wish her a happy birthday. And then it was off to Birmingham – we arrived in Birmingham at about 3pm. We were supposed to be viewing some furniture while we were down there, but that had already been sold, so that gave us a bit more time with my parents. The dog was very, very disobedient and had to go back in the car for about 10 minutes before we left.

On the way back we were doing well for time, but about 30 minutes from home it started to snow. It wasn’t sticking, until we reached the last village before ours, and there it looked quite thick. Hoping to get home before the blizzard, we were surprised to see, as soon as we emerged from a tree-lined part of the main road, that the snow had actually turned to rain. And then nothing. We had a hard frost Saturday night, but lovely sunshine all day Sunday.

So Saturday evening we did nothing.

On Sunday we had a bit of a do diddle day again with the poet learning how to use his new camera. I put quite a lot of washing through and we went for a walk, with the dog, through the fields, down to the local Co-op to get a few provisions in. Then, for the first time since we got here, I made a trifle. It’s been a long time since I made a trifle or, indeed, apart from the Christmas cake (which was actually made at the last house and brought with us), since I made anything.

And on Sunday evening we did nothing.

I say this week should be normal because it’s the first week in a long time that we don’t have to go anywhere – apart from the poet who has to go to work.

This morning he had to drive to Hyde in Manchester. We didn’t even have a frost here, but only 5 minutes up the road, before he hit our closest town, he was in 2 – 3 inches of snow. This suggests that, as with Brigadoon (where I lived before), we have our own micro-climate here – and that’s within the micro-climate Barnsley already has. Even now it’s not even cold, but it is a little overcast.

There’s a carpenter here at the moment. He was due this afternoon, but as he was also due last Wednesday afternoon and again on Friday morning and only just appeared, I’ll simply thank my lucky stars.

But, apart from that … it’s a normal week. We’re not even due to go anywhere at the weekend

Today, then, I have electronic edits to do. I also have the next book to print off, and some writing to write – I just haven’t decided what yet.

I’m a tad distracted, though, as this morning already we’ve had a nuthatch on the bird table and there are currently 6 jackdaws strutting around right beneath my window. One has his head feathers all fluffed up so is either being territorial … or he’s flirting with the ladies. And, of course, there’s a carpenter here.

The poet took a lovely picture of the nuthatch at the weekend. When he’s done what he wants with it I’ll share it here too. Meanwhile, you’ll just have to make do with notebooks. Again.